Subtelty
by mmok
Summary: It was the uncanny stillness inside the dining room, that made Reborn realize the wrongness in the mansion. R27. One-Shot.


**Edit 18/9/15: Huh, just for some clarifications and questions that may surge, Reborn is in his early-thirties and Tsuna in his late-twenties or twenty-six to be exact. Though that is only my own view so every age that you find acceptable could do.**

 **I've just realized I misspelt the title. It just _had_ to be the title.**

* * *

It was the uncanny stillness inside the dining room that made Reborn realize the wrongness in the mansion.

He was at the table, manners impeccable as ever and was accompanied by Tsuna on his right and Colonello on his left (surprisingly, among all others, _he_ had to be the one to sit next to him).

Reborn was halfway down cutting his steak when he glanced sideways once the stupid cow made a whining sound.

Eventually, the ever dutiful brother figure intervened and eventually, his eyes shifted to the honey-brown haired adult next to him.

Tsuna had grown over the past years, that he noted many times, but what caught his eyes at that moment was the speck of rice that shouldn't be in its place.

In his mind, the hitman was already planning several ways to reprimand his student (mainly anything involving with gun-shooting and Leon's abilities), but his hand shot up foremost to drive the thing away from Tsuna's left cheek.

 _It's embarrassing for me_ -was what his mind came with to explain the situation.

Even though for some reason the whole room didn't agree.

At first Lambo stopped whining and went as quiet as a corpse. Then I-Pin, who was next to him, followed soon after.

Then it went to Gokudera and Yamamoto until it reached the end of the table where Hibari was. Granted, the prefect did not normally utter a word at any circumstances, but Reborn, being him, could immediately see the tenseness of the shoulders and the slightly narrowed eyes.

The whole Vongola family was silent, which was thought to be impossible given the nature of each Guardian and their childish tendencies, not to speak of the weird common need to let themselves be heard by any means possible (bombs, mostly) or the constant shouting that would happen in a daily basis (contributed by Ryohei and Xanxus) but the point that he wanted across was- _Vongola mansion was never silent._

And yet it was, at that very moment and instant.

In his mind, Reborn thinks about how it came to this.

An uncharacteristic action maybe, since he was not known to help remotely anyone, though for that he had a reason, which was already established earlier on. So perhaps, it was a misunderstanding.

It sounded plausible enough. Those kids were prone to misunderstand just _anything_.

Mind clear and set, Reborn took a final glance to the room before planning to fully return to his satisfying dish. Key word, planning.

The hitman stopped in his tracks when he noticed the slack jaw that Gokudera had, and followed his vision line once he realized that it was not directed at him.

Reborn took a look to his right. And then his eyes widened behind his fedora.

Tsuna was blushing. Not the outright red hue across his skin that would often happen in his childhood or the fidgety eyes that would look down to the ground unconsciously.

The Vongola Boss had this rosy glow around his cheeks, only visible because the other had such a pale skin, and this undeniably surprised expression painted across his face that he momentarily wondered if Tsuna was aware of the heat around his cheeks.

For all his masterful hitman abilities that had been accumulated among the years, Reborn blinked once, then looked at the room around and was surprised to see them all eating again like the sudden pause had not just happened.

Though Colonello had avoided to look at him, opting to talk to Skull which was frankly the worst avoiding argument that anyone could come up with.

It only proved how everyone was desperate or anxious at least of not disturbing him and Tsuna for whatever they thought they were doing, since Reborn could even make out Hibari and Mukuro (being sat across from each other) having an intense staring contest with frozen expressions. Mukuro was smiling, and Hibari was not taking out his tonfas at given chance.

He took a final glance at Tsuna, then to his unfinished steak.

After a long second Reborn opted to finish his meal first, all the while thinking about how should he punish these people for trying to be subtly pushing ,though it lacked severely in the subtlety, and how smooth his student's skin was even after all these years and battles.

.

"Dame-Tsuna. Those go over here." He said, looking over the brunet's head to the box of gun ammo that he held with both arms.

The dameness of his student was trying to put them with the rifle ammunition.

"Ah... Sorry, I wasn't thinking."

Tsuna jumped back right away once he tried to cut him with a Leon sword (Gun Leon was not a good idea, since for obvious reasons, they were in a secluded space surrounded by all kinds of flammable things).

"Re-Reborn! Not here, please."

"I told you to stop with the stutter. If you're going to plead, then do it properly." He said, swinging the green sword over his shoulder.

Tsuna was about to say something, most likely a poor retort, but was interrupted when the other occupant of the room coughed loud and clear behind him.

Reborn half-turned, setting his icy eyes at Colonello who had this amused and sheepish air about him, before he grinned over to them.

"Sorry, sorry. It's just you two were ignoring me, so I did it unconsciously."

Reborn would have rolled his eyes, if it didn't sound out of character, and opted to point the edge of the Leon sword at the blond.

"You want a little attention, Colonello?" He asked over with a smirk.

"From you I'm not sure, Reborn. I was hoping for Tsuna to fill that role." The other said, shifting his eyes towards Tsuna who was standing behind him.

Reborn took a quick look to the young boss, and noticed how his expression went from fond exasperation to surprise and then to mortifying realization from what the brunet came up with as a conclusion.

He then went back to Colonello, who had the smug grin that he always wore when he won an argument with Lal Mirch and internally, Reborn was grateful of being such a good atmosphere reader.

He retracted his sword, the green chameleon settled himself on his fedora, and the hitman went back to working.

"Dame-Tsuna, as I was saying before being interrupted by some... distractions" Colonello 'hey!'-ed in the background. "Those ammo are on the topmost shelf, but I'll take care of it since your weight is still lacking and you go take care of the grenades that belong to the middle row. Careful of not blowing them."

Tsuna, who only recovered in time after long years of learning and hearing Reborn's voice, reacted instinctively at the orders and went immediately to work.

Concealed by the arm lifting up the box to the top, Reborn allowed himself a small smile.

Then he heard Colonello snickering, and all hell broke loose when he dragged the blond away by his collar and made him run around the courtyard from the grenades that he constantly threw.

He was known by his pin point accuracy, and Reborn had too much money to not afford the mansion's costs and the entertainment that he was having.

.

Reborn stands at Tsuna's side when the latter accepts.

A local family had come and the boss had begged on his knees in front of Tsuna and his family to allow him a single favor and that was to save them from the Vindice.

The Famiglia had been on constant watch by the Vindice when their Terzo turned out to be a traitor and sold information to the government.

It was stopped, almost terrifyingly easy when the underworld guards appeared by the head governor's doorstep and brain-washed them to prohibit any further inspections.

The current boss, only a generation next, came with the face of a man ready to die if it did not work out.

Reborn knew the risk of this and so did all others. It was to potentially make enemy of all Mafia by taking a treacherous Famiglia under their wing, which meant to put in danger the whole family that Tsuna had involved in this affair.

He stared long and silent at the young boss's profile, Tsuna's expression stone serious before he felt the flicker of a heating spark and the smile that had won over most with its welcome and determination.

Tsuna had accepted to take the Famiglia under his wing, and a whole lot of whines, grunts, and shouts ensued, but none of them (not even the ever pitiless Reborn) objected.

A couple of hard fought weeks later, when all Mafia had been thrown upside down by its head (quite literally), Tsuna became being recognized as the Godfather.

Reborn had stood by the brunet's side during the whole affair, and was reminded once again of the Rainbow Trial all those years ago, during the time when the hitman had fully recognized the other as the only boss that he'll ever willingly serve under.

.

"You've changed." He notes vacantly to the ceiling. "After the whole Bassofondo affair."

A silent ensued, only enough to make Reborn shift his eyes towards the desk, where Tsuna was staring at him with the quite unreadable expression.

He was not sure if he was grateful or not that Tsuna had mastered such techniques of deceit.

"It was hard." The young boss said after a long while. "There was this time where I thought I made the wrong decision."

 _After Yamamoto was hurt_ \- he concluded.

"But then you were all besides me, supporting me in your own weird ways... well, not Xanxus, but I know he cares since he only ever called me 'trash' along the way."

"And then..." Tsuna stared longingly at him, expression unraveled as his mouth opened to speak the next words.

Reborn looked away, somehow not able to hold the stare any longer (it was his most gratifying moment, he decided much later on).

The words never came, and Reborn's head snapped up not too slowly to look at the brunet.

The latter had a smile plastered on his face, though it was nothing compared to the sunny smiles and it was... rainy instead.

Tsuna's eyes were clouded, and he had this whole _sad_ air around him.

It was enough to throw him off.

Leon morphed into a gun on his hand, and Reborn shot a bullet once he concluded that Tsuna was retracting to his old tendencies again.

At least, he had not yelped this time.

"First lesson among many, Dame-Tsuna. A boss does never hesitate in his decisions or he would betray the trust of his subordinates." He calmly said with his tutor voice. "You better spit out the thing you want to say, or I'll end the Vongola line here and now."

Tsuna's eyes did not waver and his face was a languish glaze. The young boss seemed thoroughly defeated by something.

"I love you." The other whispered out with a hopeless tone.

Reborn held his gaze for a few seconds more, and then retracted Leon and leaned down on his seat.

"Elaborate." He said, with a much softer demanding tone.

Tsuna's eyes swirled around in confusion. His dame student probably expected an outright rejection from him.

"I..." Tsuna cleared his throat once he was reminded of Reborn's earlier words. "I love you enough to kill myself."

Among all the seriousness of the situation, Reborn stared at Tsuna's determined eyes, fisted hands and set lips.

Then, he laughed.

It was by no means a chuckle or the quiet snicker that he would indulge himself once found a situation amusing. It was a full-blown, foreign sound with his eyes closed and his mouth unsophisticatedly making sounds.

Once he recovered he took a look at Tsuna, whose blush had seemingly retraced to its teenage days before going in another fit again.

How could he not to, actually, when he was a full-fledged hitman and Tsuna said that he would kill himself in the most humane way possible.

The other probably didn't even mean to threat or cause sheer shock or even taunt him because of his profession. It was his honest to good pure feelings and it's quite funny, because Reborn had not thought that Tsuna could make killing sound so stupidly simple and straight-forward.

After a long while Reborn urges himself to stop, his cheeks having become sore and a good length of accumulated tension having left his shoulders.

Reborn supports himself with an arm over the armrest, and with his head he urged the other to listen (at this point, Tsuna was trying to come in terms with the situation beforehand- _Reborn had laughed_ ).

"Do you know how long?"

"Eh?" The young boss blinked confused.

"Twelve years, Dame-Tsuna. I've waited twelve years for this moment."

Tsuna's eyes considerably widen, though Reborn doesn't let him a chance to speak. "How long have you been in love with me?"

He asked, purposefully making it casual to throw the other off.

"S-Since... Since eighteen."

"You've got four years more to ask me on a date, Dame-Tsuna. Don't get ahead of yourself."

"But-"

Reborn was by Tsuna's side in an instant, and had hooked the other by his waist and locked their lips together in a brash kiss.

"Good luck in seducing me to defeat." He breathed in the other's mouth. "Otherwise, you'll have to wait twelve years like me."

.

Reborn had left through the room balcony, rather satisfied after seeing Tsuna's jaw-slacked and overall surprised face.

Walking down a set of a very familiar hallway, the hitman soon came head to head with the incredible amount of _children_ that were on top of each other at the door of their boss's office and ears glued to the wooden surface.

"You guys" Colonello was the first one to turn over, and his face color quickly drained out as he saw the intensity behind Reborn's eyes. "are going to have me as your tutor for the next four years, and I'll teach you all about subtlety."

Yamamoto and Gokudera quickly complied as they straightened themselves up, Chrome and Mukuro did not even attempt to escape, Hibari was clicking his tongue a bit further away from the rest and Ryohei was shouting as usual while Lambo was clinging behind I-Pin.

The Varia were loud as usual, Xanxus was spouting trash and Colonello was scratching the back of his head sheepishly while Lal just rolled her eyes.

Reborn's eyes merely gleamed with eerie anticipation.

Four years meant nothing, when there were enough thick-headed students around to keep him thoroughly busy.

* * *

 **Disclaimer: I don't own KHR.**

 **A/N: I've always had a weak spot for this pairing, so I've decided to try my hand at trying to write the warming dynamic that our favorite boss and hitman have between them.**

 **Thank you for reading.**


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